Valve apparatus



March 18, 1941. I W, W WA-l-RQUS1 JR 2,235,510

VALVE APPARATUS Filed Aug. 26, 1939 B mmh ATTORNEY IITl Patented Mar. 18, 1941 PATENT OFFICE VALVE APPARATUS Ward W. Watrous, Jr., East Orange, N. J., assigncr to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania.

Application August Z6,

2 Claims.

My invention relates to valve apparatus and especially valve apparatus suitable for admitting small quantities of rare gas into gas-filled electronic devices.

An object of the invention isto provide for admission of rare gases into electronic devices without undue Wastage of the gas.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby expensive rare gases can be inserted in a device by the ordinary factory Worker without danger of wasting the gas.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for quickly and efciently charging a plurality of tubes on a factory production basis.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and drawing in which:

Fig. l is an elevational view of a tube gas lling installation embodying the invention'.

Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are views of the valve of Fig. 1 in cross-section` illustrating the various steps in the method of lling the tube with gaseous atmosphere.

Heretofore tubesl operating with small quantities of rare gases, such as neo-n and argon and especially the more expensive gasesof krypton and xenon, were assembled by skilled workers who had prior experience in handling rare gases. The present trend toward gas-lled industrial tubes, however, has necessitated that the manufacture and assembly of these tubes be placed on a factory production basis. The result has been that the ordinary factory worker in handling these rare gases has wasted gas due to the lilling of the tube to a higher pressure than required and then has pumped out the excess gasto the desired pressure. The factory worker also has lost the gas from the reservoir completely due to the inadvertent turning of the valve to the wrong position. The factory worker has also required rather close supervision in seeing that the proper pressure of gas was admitted' to the tube. inasmuch as the gas suchas xenonsells for approximately $12.00 per cubic centimeters at atmospheric pressure, the Wastage of this gas due to inexperience or careless handling becomes quite expensive.

It is a specific object of my invention to provide means whereby the installation of the rare gas in the apparatus can be made by a highly skilled worker and then the filling of the tubes left to the ordinary factory worker with a minimum danger of loss of the expensive gas.

In Fig. l I have disclosed an installation for lling tubes comprising the exhaust manifold I0 1939, Serial No. 292,043

having a multiple connection therefrom to the tubulationsy Ill connected to the tubes I2. The exhaust manifold extends through a tube I3 having its open end enclosed by another closed end tube I 4. The purpose of the tubes I3 and I4 is to provide means for enclosing these tubes With a liquid air container I5 so that impurities therein may be' frozen and removed through a connection I6 and valve I1 to a vacuum pump which is indicated as being attached to the other end of the tube I8 on the further side of the valve I1. The valve I1 is of course open during the exhausting of the tubes l2.

The high frequency coils I9 are illustrated diagrammatically as surrounding the tubes for the heat treatment of the elements therein, which of course comprise the well known cathode, anode and one or a plurality of grids which are not illustrated.

The tube Iii connected to the exhaust manifold, besides having a connection to the vacuum pump is also connected through a tube 20 and Valve 2'! to an extension 22 to which is sealed a glass reservoir 23. This glass reservoir 23 is generally in the shape of a bulb having 50 cubic centimeters of gas at atmospheric pressure therein and has its top 2li sealed with very thin glass. When the gas reservoir 23 is sealed to the extension 22 of the apparatus, a small piece of iron 25 is placed over the thin glass top 24. This iron 25 has been degasied and cleaned. Sometimes it has a hard glass coating or casing sealing it in.

The valve 2I is more particularly illustrated in cross-sectional views in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5. This valve comprises a housing 26 having preferably three inlets and/or outlets 21, 28 and 29 extending therefrom. 21 extends from the valve to the extension 22 to which the rare gas reservoir is sealed. The outlet 29 is connected with the tube 29 passing to the tube I4 connected to both the exhaust manifold and vacuum pump. 'I'he opening 28 is connected to a tube 3i), preferably U-shaped, and connected to the tube 2l) as a side branch at 3i.

The Valve has a revolvable body 32 inside the housing and this body has a passageway 33 therein. This passageway is adapted to be simultaneously connected to the inlet 21 and the outlet 28, but not simultaneously to the linlet 21 and the second outlet 29. As disclosed in the drawing, in View of the fact that 21, 28 and 29 are respectively 90 apart around the lower circumference of the housing, the passageway 33 takes the form of one passageway 34 to the center of the revolving body 32 and is then connected to another passageway 35 at right angles thereto. The body 32 is revolved by means of handle 36. A part ring portion 31 extends around most of the path of the handle 36. This ring portion has a slotted portion 38 therein of approximately of arc and a screw 39 extends through the slot into any convenient support for the valve. This ring portion is in a plane so that the handle or a portion thereof will contact the ends 31', 31" of the part ring. When the screw 39 is screwed down the movement of the handle is limited to approximately 90 in the embodiment disclosed.

In Fig. 2 the handle 36 is turned to the dotted position disclosed wherein the passageway 33 is connected to both the inlet 21 and the outlet 28 to the U-shaped tube 3U. In this position the part ring portion 31 is placed with the loose screw 33 at one end of the slot 38. The rare gas reservoir 23 has its top 24 still sealed off and the space above has a connection through the tube 22, valve 2|, tube 30 and tubes 2U and I4, tube I6, open valve I1 to the vacuum pump. The pump acts to remove the atmosphere of these connections to the desired vacuum.

After the pump has created the necessary vacuum in these connections, the handle 35 is moved to the dotted position illustrated in Fig. 3. This position brings the passageway 35 to the inlet 21 and 'the passageway 34 of the revolvable body 32 is closed off by the wall of the housing 26. The screw 39 is now at the opposite end of the slot 38. This screw is then locked in this posi- `tion so that the handle 39 cannot revolve counter-ciockwise because blocked by the end 31 of the part ring, but only clock-wise to approximately 90.

A magnet means 40 is then placed around the tube 22 to litt the iron piece 25 which is then suddenly dropped on the reservoir top 24, breaking the thin glass therein. The rare gas from the reservoir 23 iills the tube 22 and the passageway in the valve body comprising the passageways 34 and 35, as shown in Fig. 4.

Up to ythis point the apparatus has been handled by a skilled worker familiar with tube manufacture. From this point on, because of the advantages of my invention, the further filling of the tubes with gas can be turned over to the usual factory worker. The factory worker is now limited `to revolving the handle 36 from the position in Fig. 4 to the position disclosed in Fig. 5 between the ends 31 and 31" of the part ring. As the handle 36 starts to turn to the right or clockwise, the passageway 35 is closed off from the inlet 21 and -the volume of gas occupied by the combined passageways 34 and 35 is imprisoned in the revolving body portion 32 of the valve. Valve I1 is now closed and the tubes may be filled with rare gas vas explained in the following description.

When the lever 3S of the valve reaches the position disclosed in Fig. 5, this volume of gas expands through the opening 29 to the tube 20 connected to the exhaust manifold, and thus into the tubes sealed on said manifold. The size of the passage-ways 34 and 35 in the revolving body 32 of the valve 2| is preferably so designed with the size of the passageways to the exhaust manifold and tubes I2 that the tubes are filled with the desired pressure therein. If this design beaasasio comes impractical, a definite number of turns from position 31 to 31" may be used. The tubes can .then be sealed off from the manifold and other tubes inserted thereon. The factory worker will then repeat the operations of Figs. 4 and 5 until the gas reservoir 23 is exhausted.

It willbe noted that during the handling of the apparatus by the factory worker, the only portion of the gas that may be wasted by inadvertent opening of the valve I1 to the vacuum pump or by Aan improperly sealed exhaust manifold or accident thereto would be Vthe tiny volume defined by the volume of the passageways 34 and 35 in the valve 2|. The apparatus prevents the direct connection of the gas reservoir 23 to the vacuum pump by inadvertence While in the hands of a factory worker, because of the locking means provided by the part ring 31 and screw 39, restricting theoperation of 'the Valve 2| to the limit of travel between the ends 31 and 31" illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5.

Instead of filling the tube with a so-called one-shot filling, it may be desirable to fill the tubes with approximately half of the filling and then perform some process of treatment and then fill up the tubes with an addition-al filling of gas by additional turns of the stop cock after this treatment. For 'this operation the dimensions of the passageways 34 and 35 can be adapted. By means of my invention several hundred tubes, such as 600 tubes, may be filled with gas by a factory worker from one reservoir of 50 cubic centimeters of a rare gas such as xenon.

The locking means of the part ring and screw may be changed to other forms. It is apparent that many other modifications may be made in the preferred embodiment disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention and accordingly I do not desire any limitations thereon except as is necessitated by the spirit of the following claims.

I claim:

l. Apparatus for filling devices with gas which comprises a gas reservoir, a manifold, a vacuum pump and a valve, said valve comprising a housing having an inlet Aand outlets and a revolvable passageway therein, said inlet connected to said gas reservoir, two of said outlets connected to each other and to .the manifold and vacuum pump, said valve passageway revolvable to -a position connecting said inlet and a first outlet and to a second position connecting said inlet only and to a third position in sequence from said second position connecting said second outlet only.

2. Apparatus for filling devices with gas which comprises a gas reservoir, a manifold, a vacuum pump and a valve, said valve comprising a housing having an inlet and outlets and a revolvable passagewaytherein, said inlet connected t0 said gas reservoir, two of Said outlets connected to each other and to the manifold and vacuum pump, said valve passageway revolvable yto a position connecting said inlet and -a first outlet and to a second position connecting said inlet only and to a third position in sequence from said second position connecting said second outlet only, and means operable to prevent said passageway movable to said rst mentioned position.

WARD W. WATROUS, JR. 

